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Hiring for a Trial Period

Date : October 2014

By : Stephen St. Cyr, Vivid Ink

When there is a disparity between the salary a hiring prospect wants and what you, the owner, want to pay, try the following:

Bring the new hire on for a trial period of 1-3 months starting at the salary the owner wants to pay and review with the new hire a very clear set of written performance expectations. Also agree with the employee that at the end of the trial period you will both evaluate job performance against the expectations. If the employee has met or exceeded expectations, raise their salary to a level close to or equal to the level the employee originally asked for. If they have not met expectations, the trial is over. The employee starts looking for another job and the employer looks for a replacement.